Thinking About Camping

We used to feel that cycle touring automatically involved camping. Somehow, starting out from a hotel each day would devalue a long tour into a series of day rides. That began to change when we got to Europe and saw that the European cyclists actually rarely camp. So the profile of an oncoming cyclist was not so often the rear pannier/front low rider image, but more likely just some small rear bags. The reason was also soon clear - unlike in North America, cycle routes have easily accessible hotels, especially in Germany, and in small towns everywhere. By contrast, in North America small towns may have no accommodation unless they are near a large motorway. Also, of course, in Germany the hotel breakfasts make the whole trip worthwile.

In North America, the typical profile of a touring cyclist approaching. This shot is from a book by Ellee Thalheimer. We assume that is her on the cover.

So while we still affected the classic heavily loaded profile, our percentage of nights camping began to drift downward. Finally, by 2015 we were camping only 1/4 of the time. Naturally, with a shift to hotels costs rose, and hotels came to make up 46% of our total expenses. But oh, those breakfasts!

So here we are again, and a new factor is taking on more importance: knees. When you are young you might not quite realize just how much of camping involves crawling and kneeling.

So even though Grampies in this blog are going on their knees, does it mean they will crawl about a tent?

The preliminary answer is yes. Mainly because we hate the thought of being stuck without a place to stay. Of course, the weight of camping gear slows us down and increases the chance of not reaching the next indoor accommodation. That weight is quite significant. Between us, with camping gear, we are carrying 90 pounds. We could dump 1/3 if we gave up camping! Then Dodie could ride virtually unloaded. Tempting.

We are most likely to not even begin camping until a couple of remote parts of the Camino del Norte, and then up the Atlantic coast. Then it will be warmer, and camping plentiful. But it means dragging the gear 2500 km before really getting to use it. Grrr.

Since the gear right now is coming, we made sure our listings of campgrounds are good. Camping in France is tremendously available, with most municipalities offering a campground. The zoomed out map of France camping is always fun:

Scary how much camping there is in France.

This kind of artistic representation does have some information in it. Look at the same thing for Spain:

In Spain, this goofy representation still reveals no camping in the centre and much thicker camping in the north than in the south. Over on the west, of course, is Portugal, which was not included in our data.

Along the Camino Frances there is a bit of camping. There is more on the Norte, presumably because of proximity to beaches, assuming you make it to the beaches.

Camping is thicker along the Norte by the coast, but there is still a certain amount along our southerly (blue) track to Santiago. We expect, though, that albergues will actually be the preferred choice. Better to sleep on a cot than a Neoair!

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